Lost 45 Years Ago in “the Heart of Darkness”
In Today’s News: Book with Photos of Sean in California:
Video Tribute to Sean, with Great Photos:
— Tim
Archive for the ‘Main Page’ Category
Errol honored on TCM!
01
Feb
Last night I saw on TCM to my great surprise and enormous pleasure, Rory Flynn honoring her father with an outstanding and wonderful presentation!
TCM presents such remembering productions of stars from time to time, narrated by the stars children or another star. I am sure you have seen these presentations of Henry Fonda, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant etc.
AND now Errol has his spot too amongst his peers on TCM and the few greats of the Golden Era of Hollywood, which he was one of them!
He deserves to be remembered amongst his peers and by all his fans as he sure was one of the best of the elite!
On February 5th at 8:00 pm est TCM is showing “The Adventures of Robin Hood” again and I am sure during this time they will show Rory’s presentation.
So sit down on the 5th at 8:00 pm est, see the movie, see Rory’s presentation and enjoy it all very thoroughly!
— Tina
~75 or So Facts for Sea Hawk Fans~
01
Feb
The 1940 version of Sea Hawk takes it’s name from the 1915 novel by Raphael Sabatini.
There was a 1924 silent film of the same name.
The 1924 version is faithful to Sabatini’s book. Except for it’s title, the 1940 version has very little if anything to do with Sabatini’s novel.
Errol became an overnight superstar starring in Sabatini’s “Captain Blood”.
An original plan was for Errol to star in a faithful production of Sabatini’s novel, as a follow-up to Captain Blood, but delays changed plans.
Seton Miller, a prominent screenwriter, who worked on several Flynn films, including Robin Hood, wrote “Beggars of the Sea”, based somewhat on Francis Drake. It’s that story that formed the non-Sabatini film in which Flynn eventually starred.
Though Errol Flynn’s character is known as Geoffrey Thorpe, he was actually predominantly a representation of Sir Francis Drake.
The Sea Hawk was deliberately designed to help rally support for the defense of Britain against Nazi Germany.
It was co-written by anti-fascist (some say pro-Communist) screenwriter, Howard Koch, who was later blacklisted and used the alias Peter Howard. Koch was also a writer for Sergeant York (1941) and Casablanca (1942).
It was one of Winston Churchill’s two most favorite movies, the other Being “Lady Hamilton”.
Philip of Spain is portrayed in a manner evoking Adolf Hitler.
The Spanish Armada is an allusion to the Nazi War Machine.
The film uses Nazi symbolism during the Inquisition scene.
This was Michael Curtiz’s tenth movie with Flynn, who hated making movies with Curtiz.
Curtiz knew and directed Errol’s wife Lili Damita in Europe, years before Errol met her.
Sea Hawk has strong plot similarities to the 1937 film, Fire Over England, starring Flora Robson, Laurence Olivier & Vivien Leigh.
Flora Robson plays Elizabeth I in Fire Over England, also.
Her performance in Fire Over England helped Vivien Leigh secure her role as Scarlet in Gone with the Wind.
Brenda Marshall’s real name was Ardis Ankerson. She was born in The Phillipines. She was married to William Holden for thirty years and was Matron of Honor at the Wedding of Nancy & Ronald Reagan.
Olivia De Havilland turned down the part of Dona Maria to avoid Type-Casting, and because she was at odds with Warner Bros. over Gone with the Wind.
Basil Rathbone turned down the part of Lord Wolfington, also to avoid being type-cast.
Claude Rains played in ten feature films, and one short, under the direction Michael Curtiz. He received four Best Supporting Actor nominations.
Henry Daniell, who played the villainous Lord Wolfington, is nowhere in the league of Basil Rathbone as a fencer. Fencing legend Fred Cavens thus handled much of the famous duel between Flynn and Daniell. Errol’s cutting of the candles helped obscure that Fred Cavens stood in as Wolfington.
This is one of Erich Korngold’s greatest and most exciting scores. He was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to Alfred Newman, who scored “Tin Pan Alley”.
The title music of the cartoon Peter Pan & the Pirates is derived from Korngold’s Sea Hawk.
The scene where Errol is knighted on the Albatross replicates a famous depiction of Queen Elizabeth I knighting Francis Drake.
Scenes from the 1924 silent film version of The Sea-Hawk were used in this 1940 version of Sea Hawk.
Sol Polito’s black and white cinematography is very highly regarded by film experts and historians. He worked with Curtiz 14 times.
The Sea Hawk was re-released by Warner Bros. in 1947 on a double bill with The Sea Wolf. Fifteen or so minutes were cut from the original film for that re-release, mostly footage with Donald Crisp.
Elizabeth’s speech at the end of the movie was in obvious reference to the threat of the Third Reich against England and the world.
There was a plan to end the movie with a clip of WWII British ships, but ultimately that was abandoned.
Production costs were approximately $1.7M, with possibly double that taken at the box office.
Some regard Errol’s Sea Hawk the greatest “pirate” movie ever made. Others regard Captain Blood as such.
The film received four Oscar Nominations: Art Direction (B&W) – Anton Grot; Original Musical Score – Erich Korngold; Sound recording Nathan Levinson; Special Effects – Byron Haskins & Nathan Levinson
The 1947 release of The Sea Hawk in France was a huge success.
— Tim
The Charm of Errol Flynn
29
Jan
I was curious about the relationship between Errol and Patricia Lake (The “daughter of William Randolph Hearst”)
etsmisbehaveprecodefilmtribute.blogspot.ca/2014/03/patricia-lake-her-paternity-hearst-and.html
This led me to a little story about Errol and his knowledge of parrots
Who Knew?
— Maria
“Bullseye!” Errol the Virile Vigilante
27
Jan
A “Double Take” on Robin Hood.
“That Flynn sure could buckle some swash.”
Heroic Vigilante. Technicolor Masterpiece. Model for the Green Arrow
— Tim
The roots of travel III
24
Jan
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
this is the latest and last installment on Aussie adventurer Frank Hurley and his influence on Young Errol.
He is the likely source for his travel bug and recurring themes in Flynn`s persuit of a life lived to the fullest . See:
Now Hurley as a person bears some striking biografical similarities to our Hollywood hero. A school drop out, a war correspondent and an explorer with artistic aspirations, that is what he was and then he was some more:
In an ever ongoing quest to expand bounderies and human horizons, he pioneered in the art of underwater photography.
He kept a diary all his life and carried the honoray title “Captain” everywhere he went. Even though heavily criticized for altering his pictures (he was a master in blending and coloring them) and romanticizing his undertakings to extreme, his works stand the test of time.
Errol would have been inclined to say, that Frank Hurley merely was “hamming it up”. There`s no ha(r)m in doing that, is there?
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
